Links I liked
With the new baby and school coming up, I haven’t been writing as much. But I’m thinking of my readers! Here’s a set of links that I wanted to share with you.
Welcome to the 31 new subscribers who have started reading the newsletter since the last post!
In high school, my sociology teacher had us read Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. It’s a fun piece showing how easy it is to frame another culture as exotic and how this can bias our observations of others. In 1973, economists commissioned a similar piece called Life Among the Econ. Since much has changed in 50 years, Joshua Gans (a friend of Market Power!) has updated the strange observations on the economist culture.
Spotify Looked to Ban White Noise Podcasts to Become More Profitable
Do you enjoy turning on Spotify to listen to nothing? Well, there are two ways you can do it: using white noise “music” or a white noise “podcast.” But the format you choose affects Spotify’s profits.
Prestigious schools and the consequences of a price-fixing cartel
A group of the world’s best schools worked together to limit financial aid packages. Since financial aid is a big factor in choosing your college, a school could get some nice students by offering higher aid packages. But if all the schools compete, then they get the same students but offer higher financial aid. Instead, the schools agreed to lower their aid packages. Now they’re having to pay for it.
Taxes on Apartments vs Golf Courses
This guy compares the footprint of a golf course and an apartment complex, then he cites their taxes. Pretty wild that policy allows this things to happen.
Do THIS If You Love Economics But HATE Math
I posted a video last week on some tips for people who like economics but hate math.